SHORT INTRO:
What happened to the characters of “Trainspotting”?
Here they are with us again, after ten years.

WHY I READ IT:
“Trainspotting” has been the book, the movie and the soundtrack to my adolescence, so how could I keep myself from reading “Porno” and finding out what had happened to the characters?
The book was given to me by some dear friends for my 22nd birthday (so quite a few years ago…) and waited really long before I found the time to read it.

THE STORY:
The book takes back the lives of the Edinburgh born protagonists of the lucky “Trainspotting”: “What happened after Mark-Renton grabbed the money and ran off to Amsterdam?” - all those who read “Trainspotting” found themselves wondering it.
Simon-Sick Boy is the usual cynical opportunist; after moving to London and failing as a husband, a father, a pimp and a businessman, he decided to go back to Leith, take over a declining pub and use it as a cover for his actual project: shoot a porn movie to make a lot of money with it. This time he isn’t just the co-star, but one of the main characters of the novel.
Spud has become a father and has to face many problems with his new family, especially because of his drug addiction, which never appeased. In the meantime he is trying a career as a writer, even as a local historian.
Begbie, instead, is looking forward to getting out of jail, finally avenging the wrong done to him by Renton - and he won’t have to wait long...
Then there are some new characters (many characters from the other work of Welsh, "Glue") such as Nikki, a sexy and available student who is supporting herself working in an ambiguous "sauna" and who will soon start flirting with Sick-boy; Terry, a sex maniac, Simon’s right arm, anxious to be the protagonist of his friend’s debut; Rob and Lauren (Nikki’s fellow students) then Ursula, Melanie, Craig, Curtis and all the other movie set collegues.
As for Mark, he’s living in Amsterdam with a German girl, having a tense relationship with her, and running a successful club. He would definitely expect anything but Leith and its citizens overwhelmingly returning in his life.
As for the main subject of the novel, this time it’s the theme of pornography, not drugs - even though, throughout the book, cocaine is often mentioned. The characters we know appear to have kept their old habits: they have the same “bum-like” attitude of living with dirty means and their pockets always full of old grudges to vent.

MY OPINION:
“Trainspotting” ten years after: it was my dream.
Reading "Porno" I immediately pictured the movie adaptation; too bad that, most likely, it will never happen. The first few chapters make you crave to know what happened to our heroes, confusing you a little: the book is written with a “multi-narrator formula”, so each chapter is narrated from the point of view of a different character - Sick Boy, Renton, Begbie, Spud and Nikki, all in rotation and in no particular order. The narrator is never specified, but it takes very little to recognize them, because the writing style and the language vary significantly depending on who is speaking.
I waited a long time before reading this book, even though I had had it in my library (almost) since the day it had been released: I think there is a time for each book and “Porno” right time took a little to arrive; anyway, the wait was not in vain and did nothing but increase my curiosity about the fate of the boys form Leith.
I loved the internal coherence of the “Welshan” world and the particularity of the characters that come back: you can’t picture my face when I realized who Nikki’s new roommate was… Epic ending!